and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 S. Pet. iii. 10.) So that palaces, churches, towns, cities, kingdoms, all, will become a pile of ashes. This house, all polluted as it is with sin, will be purged with fire. Behold the end which all the riches, the pomps, and the pleasures of this world will have. For those who are dead, the trumpet will sound, and they will all arise. " For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised." (i Cor. xv. 52.) S. Jerome observes, "As often as I reflect upon the day of judgment, I tremble: that trumpet seems ever to resound in my ears, Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment." At the sound of that trumpet the beautiful souls of the Blessed, will descend to be united to their bodies with which they have served God in this life; but the miserable souls of the lost will ascend from hell, to be united to those accursed bodies with which they have offended God.
Oh, what a difference will there be, then, between the bodies of those who are Blessed and the bodies of those who are lost. The Blessed will appear beautiful, lovely, and more resplendent than the sun. " Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun." (S. Matt. xiii. 43.) O happy he, who in this life knows how to mortify his flesh by refusing to it pleasures that are forbidden; and who, in order to keep it more under control, refuses it even the lawful pleasures of the senses, and ill-treats it as the saints have done! Oh, what happiness will he derive from it at that time!
On the other hand, the bodies of the lost, will appear deformed, black, and offensive. Oh, what anguish will the lost soul feel upon being united to its body! The soul will exclaim, " Accursed body, in order to please thee I am lost." And the body will reply, " Accursed soul, when thou hadst reason in thy power, wherefore didst thou grant me those pleasures which have caused both thee and me to be lost for all eternity?"
Affections and Prayers.
Ah, my Jesus and my Redeemer, Thou Who one day will be my Judge, do Thou pardon me before that day shall arrive. "Cast me not away from Thy presence." (Ps. li. 11.) Now Thou art a Father to me, and as that Father do Thou receive
